Business Moves

First Acceptance, Chicago Non-Standard Auto Agencies

First Acceptance Corporation, a provider of private passenger non-standard automobile insurance, has acquired certain assets of Insurance Plus Agency II Inc. and Yale International Insurance Agency Inc. These agencies sell private passenger non-standard automobile insurance primarily in the Chicagoland area and were owned and operated under common control.

Under the terms of the transaction, First Acceptance paid a total of $30.0 million in cash for the assets of 73 retail stores that operate, and will continue to operate, under the names Insurance Plus and Yale Insurance. First Acceptance did not acquire any policies in force as part of the transaction and therefore does not believe the acquisition will be accretive to earnings for a period of 12 months.

The transaction was financed through a new $30 million revolving and term loan credit facility with SunTrust Bank as lead bank and with First Bank (Lexington, Tenn.) as participating bank. The facility consists of a $5 million revolving credit facility, and a $25 million term loan facility, both maturing June 30, 2010.

EMC Group, Mutual Reinsurance Bureau Pool

Iowa-based EMC Insurance Group Inc. confirmed that Country Mutual Insurance Company had become a participant in the Mutual Reinsurance Bureau (MRB) pool effective Jan. 1, 2006.

The company previously announced on Nov. 14, 2005 that Kentucky Farm Bureau Mutual would become a participant in the MRB pool effective Jan. 1, 2006 and that a second company would likely be admitted into the pool effective Jan. 1.

The addition of these two new assuming companies to the MRB pool will reportedly strengthen MRB’s surplus base and should favorably impact future marketing efforts. However, there will be a short-term negative impact on earned premiums for EMC Insurance Group’s reinsurance segment since the pool business will now be split between five participants rather than the current three.

It should be noted that Country Mutual will only be participating in contracts with no casualty exposures; contracts with casualty exposures will be shared among the other four participants.

Midwest Family Mutual, IMACC

Naperville, Ill.-based IMACC, North America’s largest network of independent property damage mitigation and restoration contractors, announced that Midwest Family Mutual Insurance Company of Minnetonka, Minn., has engaged the IMACC Network to provide mitigation and restoration services for their claims department. This enables Midwest Mutual to utilize the IMACC 24-hour Call Center and the services of the IMACC Network of Mitigation and Cleaning Contractors.

Midwest Family, located in Minnetonka, Minn., is a multiple line property/casualty insurer actively writing personal lines and commercial lines in six Midwestern states: Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota and North Dakota. Future expansion plans include the states of Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Indiana and Ohio.

Burns & Wilcox Expansion

Burns & Wilcox, a national specialty insurance managing general agency, announced the expansion and move of the company’s St. Louis, Mo., office.

Increasing business volume was given as the impetus for the move by Branch Manager David Chernus. The new office space has 6,000 square feet.

Chernus added that progress for the company was the result of finding success in placing products liability coverage for hard-to-place risks, such as manufacturers of critical and aftermarket automotive parts, as well as aircraft and aviation-related products.

Burns & Wilcox of St. Louis is now located at 530 Maryville Center Drive, Suite 450, St. Louis, Mo., 63141. The office’s new phone number will be (314) 819-0400, and the fax number will become be (314) 819-0440. The toll-free number remains (800) 331-4128. Chernus can be contacted via e-mail at dachernus@burns-wilcox.com.

United America Indemnity Consolidates

United America Indemnity plans to consolidate its two U.S. insurance subsidiaries, United National Group and Penn-America Group, under a single United America Insurance Group management structure.

The company said the consolidation ultimately will reduce annualized expenses by approximately $4 million when fully completed in 12 months with about one-half of the expense savings realized in 2006. The reorganization will result in an 8 percent reduction of available job positions in the combined companies’ workforces, and that it will incur related restructuring costs of approximately $1.2 million in the first quarter of 2006.

The United America Insurance Group will comprise two business units: Penn-America and United National. All commercial binding authority insurance products now marketed through about 110 general agents for Penn-America and United National will be combined under Penn-America.

All specialty product offerings including professional liability lines of business, brokerage facilities, class-specific programs and umbrella/excess business will continue to operate under the United National business unit. All insurance operations such as Claims, Information Technology, Financial and Legal will be consolidated under a single United America Insurance Group management structure that aligns resources with the two business units.

Paine & Company LLC, funds acquired a controlling interest in United National Group in September 2003. In January 2005, United America completed its merger with Penn-America Group and its acquisition of Penn Independent Corporation. In conjunction with those transactions, United National Group Ltd. was renamed United America Indemnity, Ltd.